The Occupation Contemplation
by TerribleWaitress
Summary: "A career is wonderful, but you can't curl up with it on a cold night." - Marilyn Monroe / Exploring the 'what if' and 'if you could change one thing' concept. All the couples are in there... they just have to find their way in this story.
1. 0 Prologue

**A/N - Hello there! So I had this idea milling around in my mind for a while but I didn't know how to execute it. The other weekend I was on my way to work and it just came to me and I figured everything out. I'm publishing the prologue now to get the ball rolling, so updates will be when and where I have the time. Exams are over so it's just essays now which means a lot more writing time! Hope this piques your interests somewhat. **

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><p>"Oh my God," Penny gushed, taking small quick strides toward Bernadette and grabbing her arm to stop her from walking away from her station. "Please let me seat those guys that just came into the restaurant in my section."<p>

"Why?" Bernadette frowned, confused - usually Penny preferred to have as few people in her section as possible.

"See that one at the front there with the glasses?"

"Yeah... I see him."

"He's kinda cute." Penny whispered.

Bernadette looked leaned away slightly from the till to get a better look at the guys who had just come into the restaurant and after a moment she smiled. "The one in the turtle neck is kinda cute."

"Oh nuh-uh. I saw them first, that's my table." Penny snapped quickly before rushing off to greet them, leaving Bernadette no further room to comment. "Hey! I'm Penny, table for four?"

"Well, obviously, since there are four of us." said the tallest of the lot irritably, his expression one of disbelief.

"Okay..." Penny said slowly, looking at him curiously for a moment before shrugging it off. "Follow me." She led them to a table in the open section rather than the booths so she could keep her eye on the cute guy and then stood back to let them sit down. "Here you are! I'll leave you some time to look at the menu, can I get you started on drinks?"

"Four diet cokes and your phone number please." The short turtle-neck clad one said instantly.

Before Penny had time to scoff at his attempt to hit on her, the tall one spoke again. "Hang on! What if I want to drink something other than diet coke today?"

"Okay, three diet cokes, your number and whatever Sheldon wants."

The tall one - Sheldon, apparently - looked blankly at his friends for a moment before he looked at Penny with a blank expression. "I'll take a diet coke." He said, and his friends rolled their eyes.

"Okay so three diet cokes and a diet coke it is." Penny confirmed with a small giggle.

"And your number!" Turtle Neck Boy reminded her.

"Not for you." Penny stated blankly, before catching the cute ones eye and flashing him a grin. She thought she saw him grinning back but he quickly looked away so she turned and left to get their drinks.

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><p>Although she knew she technically shouldn't, Penny took the opportunity to speak to the cute guy on his way back from the restroom. So sue her it may come across as 'too much' - she was single, she enjoyed having the confidence to go up to guys she was interested in, and her manager wasn't on the floor to tell her off. Besides, she just wanted to <em>talk <em>to him. And perhaps get his number. Guys were always asking for her number, as the turtle-necked Howard had proved earlier, perhaps she could nudge this one in the right direction. She began walking as though she had a reason to be rushing, bumping into him accidentally-on-purpose. "Oh, sorry!"

"That's okay." He said with a shy smile, averting his eyes.

"Good thing I'm not carrying a tray of drinks, right?" Penny laughed, inwardly cursing herself for making such an awful attempt at conversation.

"Right. I've had that happen to me before... it wasn't so good. I had to get the bus home that time too."

"Once I got a tray of drinks all over me but it wasn't that bad - I got like, the biggest tip of my life." Penny grinned proudly, though she wished she had somewhat more of a filter. It wasn't a particularly impressive story to tell someone you had just met, but at least it was somewhat amusing. And the vision of her shirt soaking wet had to do _something _for the guy.

Leonard found himself chuckling. "Well, at least you made lemonade out of lemons."

"I did! There were even lemonades on that tray! With lemons in them!" Penny giggled, before biting her lip as Leonard gave a short, awkward laugh.

"That's a... great coincidence. Anyway, I should probably let you get back to work and return to my friends."

"Oh, right! Of course." Penny nodded vigorously, wishing she had tried to come across slightly less... well, less the way she had. Evidently it hadn't worked. "Sorry."

"That's okay. And I'm sorry about Howard; he's always asking for girls numbers. Hardly ever successful."

"Don't worry about it, I'm used to it. I wouldn't mind so much if it was the right person asking for my number." Penny hoped he would get her hint, deciding to then give him another nudge in the right direction. "But it wasn't him, so... yeah."

"Right, sure. Again, sorry about him." Leonard wasn't sure why she was looking at him so intently, but he simply shrugged it off. "Anyway, we're ready for our bill when you are."

Sighing, Penny nodded. "Okay, I'll be right over."

As she watched him walk away, Bernadette walked over with a wide grin. "Ooh, is someone trying to serve up some sexy?"

"Shut up."

"I'm guessing it didn't work."

"I just came out with all this lame crap. Why is it only the creeps and jerks who are interested me? The _one _cute guy who doesn't try to stare down my top when I bend forward to pick up plates doesn't even get my hint to ask for my number!" Penny scoffed. "What is up with that?"

"Relax, we'll have plenty of nerdy-looking guys to choose from come September."

"Bet they won't have hair like that." Penny pointed out. "Ugh, I can't believe I failed at picking up a guy. At the _Cheesecake Factory_."

"Maybe your research should be on why that is. Two hundred pages on the time Penny-"

"Okay, yeah, hilarious." Penny hit Bernadette's arm playfully with a menu. "I have to go give them their bill."

"You could always 'accidentally' drop the bill and bend over to pick it up right in front of him."

Rolling her eyes, Penny went over to the till to print the bill. "I'm not _that _desperate. I just thought he was cute."


	2. 1 Occupation

**A/N - Really enjoying writing this story, it's a very fun exploration! I have a _lot _of essay work to be doing so this will be my last update until after the New Year. I'll still be writing in that time but I need to somehow pass these four essays too - and they aren't as easy to write as a FanFic! On top of that I have a medical palava to deal with and work - though I use my sick time & travel time to write too! Hope you all had a great Christmas and have a wonderful New Year. I'll be back with an update for... one of my fics in 2015. For now, just a little bit more of this :) **

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><p>Penny groaned as she put down the final box, essentially completing the move into her new apartment. As if the whole moving thing wasn't stressful enough, the elevator in her new place wasn't even working - and she no longer had a muscly boyfriend to help her carry all her things up for her. At least the delivery guys had brought the heavier things up for her; the low-cut t-shirt had its perks. Deciding that unpacking and building her new bed would be more enjoyable with music playing, she located it in the plethora of boxes and let it play whichever CD she had left in there previously.<p>

Deciding to get the bed built and out of the way so that she had somewhere to sleep tonight, she got started on that first. Fortunately she was quite efficient with these things so putting it together didn't take as long as she had initially expected. It was the mattress and making the bed with her new sheets and comforter that were the real effort - though she had always hated doing her bed up, so this came as no surprise. Afterwards she got started on giving the closet and chest of drawers a clean and wipe-down so she could begin on the most important part: unpacking her multitude of clothes. Her pajamas were at the bottom of the biggest suitcase, so that seemed a logical start - though clearly had packing methods had been anything but logical. Half-way through, she heard a knock at her door. Getting up, she stepped carefully over the boxes filling her apartment to open it.

"Hello?" Penny said automatically, but her eyes widened and she burst into a grin when she saw who it was: the cute guy from the Cheesecake Factory the night before. This was most definitely an interesting development. "Hey!"

A stunned Leonard gaped at her, unsure of wether or not he was seriously looking at the same waitress from last night with whom he'd spoken. Surely that just an impossible coincidence? "Umm... hey?"

"What a cool coincidence!" Penny opened her door wider now that she knew who was there, leaning against the frame. She couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. "I just moved here today, I've been staying with my friends for like two weeks - I finally have a home! Do you live here too?"

"Yeah... right across the hall." Leonard said slowly as though the fact that the waitress from the night before now lived on the same floor as him was taking a little longer to process than any other piece of information. "So... you live here as well?"

"As of 9am this morning, yes! I am the newest resident of Apartment 4B, 2311 North Los Robles." Penny grinned. "This is so cool! Hey, I didn't get your name last night, neighbor."

"It's Leonard. You're Penny, right?"

"Right. Penny." She confirmed with a perky nod.

"I saw there were some boxes outside and the other guy moved out two days ago so I just wanted to say hello to the new neighbor and welcome them to the building." Leonard explained, realizing his appearance outside her door must seem strange without reason. "And I also wanted to see if you want to join us for Indian food... well, it wasn't you in particular, I was inviting the new neighbor, but since that's _you_, by inviting you I do now mean you as in you, Penny." Leonard stopped to catch his breath; he really needed to learn to just stop talking when he was nervous. He hoped he wouldn't need to get his inhaler out. "Anyway, we're ordering in an hour - I guess fifty-something minutes now - and I thought it would be nice to invite the new neighbour so… yeah." He finished off his ramble by trailing off and placing his hands in his pockets before summarising his invitation. "Would you like to join my roommate and I for Indian food?"

Penny smiled at him, touched by his invitation and finding his awkwardness incredibly adorable. "Aww, that's so sweet! I'd love that."

"Really? Okay… cool. Do you already know what you'd like, or do you want a menu? Or-"

"Oh I'm easy, I'll just have whatever you're having."

"Great. We usually just order a few things so I'll get extra. I'll let you know when I've got it, should be around an hour and a half. Maybe a little longer depending on traffic."

"That sounds great." Penny smiled; his shyness was so cute.

Leonard hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to overstay his welcome, but he also wanted to spend more time with her. "Umm, do you need any help unpacking or anything?"

"Oh, that would be so great!" Penny stepped aside to let him into her apartment, eager to find out more about this guy. When he looked at her for guidance on where to start, she bit her lip. "Could you do me a favor, actually?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Would you be able to connect me to your WiFi? Just until I get mine set up?"

"Of course! I'm guessing that's your laptop on the kitchen counter?"

"Yeah, the password is Cu2911. No spaces, capital 'c' and a little 'u'." Penny told him as she stepped over a box to open another one and unpack it into a bookcase.

"Cu2911?" Leonard raised a brow.

"You know, Cu – copper, like what pennies are made of because I'm Penny. 29 is its atomic number and 11 because I was born in November." She explained casually as she began placing her books on the shelf. "Normally I don't give people my password or explain all of that but I need the WiFi."

"It is a lot of information to be giving a stranger."

"You're not a stranger. You're my neighbour!" Penny pointed out excitedly, looking over at him.

He nodded as though to say 'fair enough' as he loaded up her desktop, deciding to try and make conversation. "So... what brings you to North Los Robles Avenue?"

"Bad break-up." Penny sighed. "I mean, I knew it was coming but I just wanted to hold on to what we _did_ have for as long as possible. Anyway, it was technically his apartment so I had to find my own place."

"Oh that's too bad. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I knew he was cheating on me for a long time, trust me. I was just stupid enough to think he would ever change into a better person. God, guys can be such jerks." Penny huffed before glancing apologetically over at him. "Sorry, no offence."

"None taken." Leonard shrugged. "The current WiFi password is jedimaster – no spaces. Just for future reference."

"Jedi master." Penny snorted.

"Yeah… my roommate and I, we're kinda… nerdy, I guess. Sorry." Leonard blushed. That was never impressive, no matter how he said it.

"Oh don't worry about it, I know a lot of nerds."

"You do?" Leonard blinked. Pretty women like Penny never knew any or many nerds at all. "You do realise that just me and my friends yesterday at the restaurant doesn't count as knowing a lot of nerds?"

Laughing, Penny shook her head. "No, I'm a Physics graduate. Most of the people who do that kinda stuff are into that kinda stuff."

"I'm sorry, you're a Physics graduate?" Leonard blinked, staring at her with his mouth open.

"Yeah. I'm actually starting my doctorate studies next month."

Again, Leonard simply blinked at her. "You are?"

Folding her arms across her chest, Penny smirked. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"Of course I do! It's just… okay, it is kinda hard to believe. You don't look like… never mind. I just didn't expect that."

"Don't worry, I get that a lot." Penny shrugged, standing up and stretching her back a little before joining him at the kitchen counter. "I only studied it in the first place because my parents wanted me to do something academic since my brother and sister were... let's just say they didn't even make it through high school. Anyway they told me unless I pick something respectable they wouldn't help pay tuition and then two colleges offered me scholarships so... it kind of went from there and turns out I actually quite enjoyed Physics a lot more than I said I did."

"Wow. Well it's good that you like it, considering how much work you've put into getting this far."

"Yeah, it's not everybody's cup of tea. Sometimes I kinda like how surprised people are. The element of surprise is a good one. It's just when they start with the whole 'but you're a girl, you can't be a scientist' crap that annoys me. And I get it a lot." Penny sighed.

"I was just surprised. No offence meant." Leonard put up his hands.

"I know. It's okay. I don't exactly scream 'I'm a scientist!' and you didn't say anything bad." Penny assured him, watching over his shoulder as he finished up the WiFi connection.

"I'm glad. There we go - that's your laptop all connected to our WiFi." Leonard slid the laptop slightly over on the counter toward Penny.

"Thank you!" Penny grinned, opening the browser to check it was working. "Yay! That's perfect. I'll have to set it up on my phone too. Oh! First point of call, I should add you on Facebook."

"Umm... okay. Sure." Leonard watched as she navigated to the page. This was one of the rare times somebody added _him _as a friend.

"Leonard..." Penny typed his first name slowly, prompting him for his last name.

"Hofstadter." Leonard said, before proceeding to immediately spell it out for her almost out of habit. "Yup, that top one is me."

"Ooh, that is one fancy ass profile picture there Mr. Handsome!" Penny bit her lip as she clicked on the 'Add Friend' button, eyes still on his photo. "You look so good!"

"Thanks." Leonard blushed. He always thought it was slightly vain of him to use that photograph but he never could figure out what to use instead. "It's one of my headshots." He admitted quietly.

"Headshots?" Penny raised a brow as she turned her head to look at him, hands still on the keyboard of her laptop. "Like... what an actor has?"

"Yeah." Leonard turned even redder and he wrung his hands together nervously. "That's what I do. I'm an actor. Kind of."

"No way." _Wow, he just went from cute to hot_. "So... would I have seen you anything?" Penny turned around so she could lean back against the counter.

"Uh, not really." Leonard admitted. This was always the case: people found out he was an actor and got excited until they learned that his career wasn't really all that impressive. Sometimes he thought that this was only fixed in his mind because of all the teasing he got from his friends - after all, it wasn't _his _fault he was too short to ever play a superhero - but the three girls he'd told on dates had never been particularly impressed. If anything, Penny seemed more impressed than anybody he knew by his being an actor. _She's just being nice, don't get your hopes up, _Leonard reminded himself.

"Come on, there must be something." Penny probed.

"I've just done a couple of local plays and a commercial. It's a hard industry."

"What commercial was it?"

"Oh..." Leonard _really _didn't want to tell her about what the commercial was for - but it was the only impressive thing he'd done to date. "Uh, it's nothing you would have seen."

"I have a TV, I see commercials." Penny justified.

"It was just a small commercial, nothing fancy." Leonard did his best to stall telling her.

"It was still a commercial, and it was still on television. Give it up, Leonard Hofstadter. What was it for?"

"It was for... uh, hemorrhoid cream."

Penny burst into laughter, her head falling back. Embarrassed as he was, Leonard couldn't help but enjoy the sound of her laughter and the smile on her face. She put a hand over her mouth when she realized that she had laughed out loud and then grasped his arm. "Oh my God, I am so sorry. But that is _hilarious_. I have _got _to see this."

"Unfortunately for you this was last year so it's no longer on air." Leonard teased and she pouted at him in a way that got straight to his heart, so he gave in. "But fortunately for you, Howard has a copy of it somewhere."

"Howard - that guy who asked for my number yesterday?" Penny scrunched up her face.

"Yeah, him. He found the commercial so hilarious that he recorded it to use as blackmail against me."

"Oh this I have _got _to see."

"You really wanna risk going to Howard's house just for that commercial?"

"He can't be _that _bad."

"Trust me. He is." Leonard warned. "If you search 'creepy' in the dictionary, his photo comes up underneath the word."

"Wow. Okay, so I guess I won't be seeing it any time soon." Penny raised her brows. "But still, an actor. That's kinda cool."

"Yeah, getting turned down at hundreds of auditions - cool. Does wonders for my self esteem. What I thought was going to build my confidence actually does the _exact _opposite. But still, when I'm actually acting, it's really great. I do really enjoy it, it's just tough." Leonard told her, before trying to move the conversation along to something less embarrassing. "The money isn't steady, obviously, so I work in the IT department at Caltech."

"Caltech?" Penny's eyes widened. "As in California Institute of Technology?"

"That's the one."

"No freakin' way! That's where I'm doing my Ph.D. studies!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah!"

"Wow." Leonard chuckled. "It's a very, very small world. Well... I look forward to seeing you there. If you ever need a spare pen or help with your laptop... I'm your guy."

"Great. I'll have to swing by for a pen or two." Penny said, mentally slapping herself for her inability to come up with anything wittier. For a scientist she didn't come across quite so smart. And for someone as confident as she was, she could really be quite dorky. Her mother said it was cute, but Penny thought it was anything but and her friends took great joy in teasing her about her dorky moments.

"I look forward to it." There was an awkward silence in which he nodded a few times before clearing his throat, not wanting their conversation to end. "I actually met Sheldon, Howard and Raj there. Sheldon had a flier up looking for a new roommate and I needed somewhere to live. Howard was always being called into Human Resources and he noticed my lightsaber pen when I was there signing some forms. Raj was new and was friends with Howard."

"A lightsaber pen?" Penny grinned. "You really are a nerd, aren't you? I hope you have a spare one for me."

Leonard made a mental note to buy some extra lightsaber pens in case she did ever decide to stop by his office. "Of course."

"God, it seems like everyone I know here is at Caltech." Penny frowned. "I guess I'll have at least two friends there."

"You know someone there already?"

"Yeah, one of the waitresses at work is studying there too. Not right now, obviously, it's the holidays, but she will be."

"That's cool. I'm sure you'll have more than two friends there."

"I'm satisfied with the two I've already got." Penny grinned. "I should get back to my unpacking. Build up an appetite for that Indian food."

"Do you need any help? Or do you want me to leave me to it?"

"No, you should stay! If you want, that is. The company is pretty great. Umm..." Penny looked around her apartment, hands on her hips. "That box over there has my DVDs and CDs in it, you could empty those into the new media center? Sorry though, no Star Wars."

"Sure. Any particular organizational system? Alphabetical, by actor, by-"

"Anything is fine, sweetie." Penny smiled.

"I'll go with alphabetical."

She watched him sit down with the box and start to take them out and pile them up in an alphabetical system, nervously shuffling her feet. She could trust this guy to help her, right? Sure, they hadn't known each other long, but he seemed nice and willing to help her settle in. "Umm, Leonard? Could you do me a favor when you're done with that?" Penny asked, bending down to pick up another box so it didn't seem as though she'd been watching him that whole time.

"Of course, what is it?"

"My TV is kinda... still at my ex-boyfriends place." She bit her lip awkwardly, hoping he wouldn't take her request the wrong way.

"Oh... you want me to go and get it?" Leonard knew that he would get it if that was what he wanted. Hell, he'd probably do anything for her - she was gorgeous and more interested in him than anyone else he knew. She called his headshot _handsome_, for crying out loud!

"No, no! I just need someone to come with me. Although... maybe it would be kinda awkward if I was there. He probably wouldn't give it to me..." Penny trailed off.

"I don't mind going to get it." Leonard offered immediately. "I can get it on my way back from picking up the Indian food. I'll take Sheldon with me."

"Really? That's so sweet of you, thank you!"

"Don't worry about it. Moving is stressful enough as it is."

"It really is. I had to keep sneaking in to get all my stuff from his apartment when he wasn't there but I couldn't get the TV on my own so I thought I'd ask him nicely and then he told me to give him his key and... yeah."

"Then we definitely want to avoid that. Exes are the worst." Leonard stated as though he had plenty of experience with them.

"They are, aren't they?" Penny nodded, opening the box at last so she could unpack it.

Knowing that she wouldn't have to face Kurt again for her television was a great weight off her shoulders, but she could only hope that he would give it to Leonard. Sure Kurt was a jerk, but he couldn't do anything to a stranger. And currently she was enjoying his use of the word 'exes' - in her mind, that meant he was single. Not that she was looking to instantly pounce on him, but at least there was the option of something happening at some point. "When the TV is all set up again you could always come over and show me one of your Star Wars movies." Not that she'd never seen them - but she'd watch them again with Leonard, gladly.


	3. 2 Blonde Pretty Girl

"Oh my God." Penny slapped a hand to her mouth. Upon opening her front door she had discovered Leonard and Sheldon both pants-less holding her television looking equally unimpressed. She stepped aside instantly to let them in. "What happened?"

"Your Hulk-like ex-boyfriend stole our pants and said he wasn't giving back your television." Sheldon explained as he and Leonard moved slowly and carefully to move the television toward the media center in the front room of her apartment. "But Leonard over here refused to leave without it. He gave us wedgies but those were fixable and we got the television."

"I am _so _sorry." Penny apologised, hands clasped at her chest.

"You should be."

"Sheldon!" Leonard groaned, before turning his head to look at Penny. "It's fine, Penny, it wasn't the first time that's happened to us - and it won't be the last."

"How is it fine?" Sheldon questioned. "My mother bought me those pants!"

"Oh God, I'm so sorry, I'll buy you another pair... I'll take you guys out for dinner tomorrow night, how does that sound?"

Placing the television down, Sheldon stood straight and glared at her while Leonard began to adjust the angle they'd placed it at. "Seriously? You _really _think food is going to make up for having a grown man steal my pants?"

"No." Penny said quietly, looking down at her feet.

"Well, seeing as there is nothing else you can do to better the situation, I guess I have to accept your apology."

"Well... thank you for getting my TV."

"Don't worry about it." Leonard shrugged as though the whole ordeal had been without any issues whatsoever. "We'll just buy some new pants and it'll be as if nothing happened."

"Oh, no, I'll get you new pants." Penny immediately offered.

"Seriously, it's okay." Leonard gave her a smile in attempt to reassure her.

"No, it's the least I can do."

"As our neighbor, the least you could do is introduce yourself properly since the paradigm of our acquaintance has changed from you being our waitress to living opposite us. While I understand that you have acquainted yourself sufficiently with Leonard, you have not had the decency to do the same with me." Sheldon said, coming over to her. "Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D."

"A Ph.D., huh?" Penny grinned, extending a hand. "I'm Penny. Waitress and future Ph.D. student."

"_You're _doing a Ph.D.?" Sheldon asked disbelievingly.

"Sheldon." Leonard warned.

"Yup." Penny folded her arms stubbornly, realizing that he would not be shaking her hand in greeting.

"In what?"

"Well my undergraduate degree and masters were in Physics so... take a guess."

"That's rhetorical, by the way." Leonard said to Sheldon before explaining to Penny, "he's not very good at getting sarcasm."

Sheldon looked at Penny skeptically. "You're not seriously going to study for a Ph.D."

"Dead serious."

"If you're so smart why are you only a waitress?" Sheldon challenged, determined to catch her out.

"Excuse me, plenty of smart people work little jobs to earn money on the side! My studies don't fund themselves you know, and apartments aren't free."

After a pause in which he tried to accept her words, Sheldon shook his head. "You're not _seriously _a Ph.D. student."

"I am very much so. You wanna see my admissions forms?"

"But you're not... you're... you're..."

"Blonde? Pretty? A girl?" Penny put her hands on her hips. "Seriously, go ahead."

"Umm..."

"Blonde pretty girls can be scientists too, Sheldon." Leonard said.

"You don't have a board." Sheldon pointed out, as though this was some form of scientific verificiation. "I have a whiteboard."

"My whiteboard is in my bedroom and I'm getting a new one for the living room this weekend when I go shopping."

"Oh." Sheldon stared at Penny, keen to find a reason she simply couldn't be telling the truth about her academic status. Eventually, when he came up with nothing else, he gave in. "The Indian food will get cold if we don't eat it."

"Right, Indian food! I forgot you were going to get that!" Penny clapped her hands together. "Ugh, I am _starving_."

"I can imagine you must be after moving." Leonard smiled, happy to be back in the conversation. Gesturing to the hallway, he quickly added "we're just gonna go put on some pants."

"Tell me about it. All I had was some Cheerios this morning at my friends house after she left for work. I'm pretty sure the milk was a little out of date but I can't complain, she let me stay there all week without paying for anything. And _then _her boyfriend just appeared from her bedroom which explained why I woke up in the middle of the night thinking hey, sounds like she's really having a restless sleep up there... guess she wasn't sleeping after all! Luckily he had clothes on, could have been _so _awkward. I didn't even know he was there! I had a white t-shirt on too, _not _the most ideal clothing in the morning when someone walks in and you're still cold from rummaging around in the fridge, right?" Penny laughed before realizing the stunned looks on the two guys faces who had returned from their bedrooms. "So... yeah. I've only had Cheerios today."

"Well, here, take a seat and have as much as you want." Leonard gestured to the coffee table, where they'd placed the Indian food before having gone back downstairs to bring Penny's television upstairs.

"Okay, thank you." Penny grinned and went to sit down.

"Not there!" Sheldon yelled instinctively as Penny went to sit on the leftmost couch cushion.

"Uh..." Penny hovered mid-sit. "Why?"

"That's my spot."

"O-kay." Penny slid over to the other end of the couch. She was accustomed to crazy, but that was a whole other level of crazy. Who got that upset over a couch cushion? "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, you're just feeding the crazy." Leonard told Penny as he handed her a plate and cutlery. "Do you want a drink?"

"Sure, just some water would be great."

"Are you sure? We have soda, coffee, tea, juice, milk..."

"Ooh, coffee would be _great_."

"One coffee coming right up!"

"Coffee at lunch?" Sheldon looked at Penny skeptically. "You won't be able to sleep."

"Tried and tested, Sheldon, I think I'll sleep just fine. I'm a scientist too, remember."

"It's easy to forget that you are."

"Sheldon." Leonard muttered as he handed Penny a cup of coffee and sat down in his armchair.

"Oh, it's fine, really - I've heard it _all _before. Trust me. This isn't new. Thank you, by the way." She lifted her mug in Leonard's direction before taking a sip. "Delicious."

"No problem. Just help yourself to some food."

"Oh, thank you!" Penny immediately plunged a fork into the closest container, picking up a slice of meat and placing it in her mouth, before getting a forkful of rice.

"Uh..." Sheldon glared at Penny as though she had just committed the biggest criminal offence right in front of his eyes.

"We'll just have it family style, Sheldon, and take what we want. I told you that earlier, remember?"

"Well, you and Penny share, and I'll just have all the Dhansak Masala here. She just infected the Korma and special fried rice."

"Sheldon!"

"It's fine, we can share, you don't mind, right?" Penny smiled at Leonard. "I had a friend who freaked out if I did that with food rather than using a clean fork to put it on my plate first. Besides, he's crazy enough already, I don't think I could spend the whole meal with him glaring at me like that just so I could enjoy some Dhansak. I can run a laser experiment but I can't deal with _him_."

"No, nobody can." Leonard chuckled. "Okay, we'll share. The brown rice is Sheldon's. He usually has the Korma too, but... that's all yours now, so go ahead."

"You don't like Korma?"

"He's lactose intolerant." Sheldon explained. "He likes it, but you won't like him once he starts-"

"Okay, she gets it, Sheldon!" Leonard hurriedly shushed his friend, making Penny giggle.

"Touchy. Must be the soy milk."

Penny shook her head, amused, before patting Leonard's knee and turning to Sheldon to change the subject. "So, you have a Ph.D. - what's your field of study?"

"Astrophysics."

"Ah, that would explain that big ass telescope by the window." Penny nodded.

"I received my Ph.D. at sixteen." Sheldon said proudly.

"Your teen years must have been _so _fun." Penny raised her brows before returning to her food.

"Oh, they were." Sheldon replied, missing completely her sarcasm.

"I'm sure." Penny nodded, holding back a giggle. She turned back to Leonard, her curiosity over these two friends growing with each moment. "So how does an actor end up working in the IT department of a university?"

"My parents are very academically inclined so... I had to at least get a degree of some sort. They hated that I was into acting so I figured it would get them off my case. Turns out being the lead in school plays doesn't mean you're going to get all the parts out there in the real world so I'm actually thankful for that degree. And I'm never confident enough to go for those really _out there _parts no matter how much I want them." Leonard explained. "That's why I got into acting - I wanted to build my confidence and I just really liked it."

"Aww, well something'll come along! I'm sure you're great. Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't have an Oscar yet; even the best people miss out in the industry. You'll get something really good. Especially with that headshot." Penny bit back a smirk. "And this way I'll know who to go to with all my laptop problems."

"You're a Ph.D. candidate and you have _laptop problems?_" Sheldon scoffed. She was giving him _so _many reasons to think she was lying about her Ph.D. and none to prove her academic capabilities.

"We're not all laptop geniuses, okay!" Penny snapped. Truth was, she was absolutely fine with laptops. She could have easily connected to their WiFi earlier too. But why admit that when your neighbor was that cute? "You'll help me set up my account with the university, right, Leonard?"

"Oh, sure." Leonard stopped himself from adding 'anything you want' to the end of his sentence. He knew he would buy her a new laptop just for her studies if that was what she wanted. Despite knowing how freely girls tended to use him both in the hopes that his being an actor would get them closer to famous people (it didn't) or for fast, easy technical help, and despite how often he had told himself he'd stop giving in to those girls, he had no trouble agreeing to anything Penny had asked of him. "Just let me know when."

"I will."

They continued to eat in silence, and Leonard couldn't help but cast frequent glances over at Penny. To him, she was everything he could want in a woman: hot, cute, kind, caring, pretty, interesting, interes_ted_, funny and smart in more than one sense of the word. And she was a _scientist_. How many girls were all of those things - and how many of them did he know? One. Confident as he felt whilst acting, he knew asking her out would require a _lot _more confidence than he actually had. She likely had thousands of guys, probably even actors better than him, interested in her. He made a mental note never to introduce her to anybody from his acting class.

Still, he could always try to subtly hint that he was interested in her. Perhaps by the time it was enough of a hint for her to notice she would have fended off all the other guys and he would have a shot. Clearing his throat, Leonard looked up from his food. "So... how's your food?" He wished he had thought of something before opening his mouth.

"It's really good."

"Good, good." Leonard poked at his rice, mixing it in with the sauce even though he wasn't a huge fan of doing such a thing with his food. "I'll give you a copy of the menu, I got one when I picked up the order."

"Awesome, that'd be great. I _love _Indian food. Ooh, do you know what I love even more? Chinese food!"

"Oh, well we're having Chinese tomorrow for dinner! You can join us!" Leonard grinned a little too enthusiastically.

"You're inviting her to Chinese food night?" Sheldon moaned. "But we won't have enough dumplings! They serve the perfect amount to split between myself, you, Howard and Koothrappali."

"We'll just get an extra order."

"And how are we supposed to split so many dumplings between five of us? We'll be full before we even get to our mains!"

"It's okay, I love dumplings - I'll eat the extra ones." Penny shrugged.

"Umm, I don't think so." Sheldon pointed his fork at her. "We split the price equally so everybody gets the same amount of food. You cannot mess with the system and have extra dumplings."

"Okay, so we'll split them between us and whatever we don't finish is ours to save for leftovers." Leonard suggested. "You can't argue with that logic."

"Ooh, leftovers are always the best. It's like preparing lunch for the next day in advance." Penny's eyes lit up. "I always save a little bit for the next day anyway - I do the same with pizza too. There's just something about eating it the day after."

"_Please _don't invite her to pizza night." Sheldon said to Leonard.

"Sheldon, don't be so rude." Leonard scolded before returning his attention. "You are of course invited to pizza night."

"Well, if Sheldon doesn't want me there, we could always-"

"It's okay, it's not that he doesn't want you there it's just that he's an insane man who struggles with the concept of diving pizza slices differently. He hates change."

Penny quickly stuffed a forkful of rice and korma in her mouth. She'd been about to suggest that she just go out for pizza with Leonard, hoping to use Sheldon's dislike of her joining them as a way to casually set a sort-of date with Leonard. She figured she needed to stop trying before she really embarrassed herself. Apparently Bernadette was right; she _was _losing her game. Trying to use her crush's roommates dislike of her as an attempt to get a date? _Pathetic, Penny, _she scolded herself.

"Why change something that already works?" Sheldon quipped.

"Well with me moving in here, you're in for a whole lotta change!" Penny winked, which made him twitch oddly. At least now she had something else to focus on. "Gee, sorry." She turned to Leonard and whispered, "what is up with that?"

"He's crazy is the only explanation." He grinned before teasing; "you're a blonde pretty girl with a brain to boot, you should have deduced that by now."

"Eh, I'm more into experimental physics - I like to test the extent of the crazy before I come to a conclusion. Some things are just... baffling." Penny shrugged, hoping he didn't notice her blush. That was twice he'd called her 'blonde pretty girl' - and even though he was using her phrase from earlier when she'd been defending herself, at least he'd just freely called her pretty. Leonard saying she was pretty was a thousand times better from a stranger saying she was 'hot'. Perhaps there was hope after all. Or not, she quickly decided, feeling korma sauce dribble down her chin after a particularly loaded forkful of food. _Great. I really am losing my game._


	4. 3 Cheesecake

"Ooh, look who just arrived at the restaurant!" Bernadette teased in a sing-song voice.

Penny leaned backwards to get a view of the entrance door, her eyes lighting up. "Yay!" She smoothed down her apron. "Quick, how do I look?"

"Like a waitress who works at the Cheesecake Factory."

"But a hot one, right?"

"Sure." Bernadette shrugged; there was only a certain level of 'hot' one could achieve in these uniforms. Admittedly Penny was probably as hot as these uniforms got, so she couldn't really argue that she _didn't _look hot, given the circumstances.

"Good." Penny shook out her hair slightly before turning on her heel to greet the four guys she had been getting to know recently - most importantly her neighbours. She had learned from said neighbours that Sheldon was very insistent on having a regular eating schedule and since their first visit last week the Cheesecake Factory had been deemed as a suitable Tuesday replacement, and Leonard went along with these things to avoid further arguments with Sheldon. Her neighbours were the definition of quirky, and Penny for the most part found it amusing. She seated the guys at their 'regular table' as Sheldon had proclaimed it, getting their drinks started and orders taken before returning to Bernadette who was watching her with a big grin. "What?"

"You like that little glasses guy, doncha? You're attracted to him!" Bernadette was practically ecstatic.

"Of course I'm attracted to him!" Penny exclaimed. There was no point in denying it; every time they were working together she would be trying to bring Leonard into the conversation. "Have you _seen _him? You should see his profile photo. And he's so sweet. He's not like, _out there _like all the other guys, he's all shy and cute - it's a nice change."

* * *

><p>Leonard watched with a smile as Penny spoke animatedly to a fellow waitress. He could have sworn she had glanced his way a few times, even catching his eye once or twice - but he could easily have imagined these instances with the amount of staring he was doing. Maybe she'd caught him staring, but he hadn't noticed. It was probably weird and creepy to be staring so much, but he reasoned that it wasn't worse than Howard and his sleazy attempts at pick-up lines.<p>

"Leonard? Are you listening?"

He was dragged out of his reverie when Raj nudged him painfully in the arm with his elbow. "Huh?"

"Star Wars marathon tomorrow at your place." Howard said.

"Oh. Right. Sure, that sounds fun."

"Fun? Leonard, it's an overnight marathon of Star Wars games, movies, Lego, episodes, lightsaber fights... it is going to be _awesome_." Sheldon beamed.

"What's going to be awesome?" Penny asked, having arrived with their drinks.

"We're doing a marathon." Sheldon stated excitedly.

"Uh... running one? Or like, a movie marathon."

"A Star Wars marathon." Howard smirked, and Leonard inwardly cursed himself for having legs too short to be able to kick Howard under the table. "All day and all night, baby. Care to join?"

"Oh, no thank you. I'm not really into Star Wars." Penny shrugged. "When your college roommate had a huge obsession and wouldn't shut up about it, it kinda puts you off enjoying it too much."

"There is no such thing as too much Star Wars." Sheldon breathed, on his last nerve with Penny.

"Just ignore him." Leonard sighed, wishing desperately that Penny at least _sort of _liked Star Wars so they could watch it together at some point.

"I plan to." Penny nodded. "Enjoy your drinks, I'll bring your food out when it's ready."

Waiting until Penny had walked away (and by waiting, he used that time to watch her walk - she looked great even from behind), Leonard groaned at his friends. "You couldn't just be cool around her, could you? You just had to mention Star Wars!"

"Yeah, like she didn't know you were into Star Wars." Howard scoffed.

"Well she didn't need to know about the marathon!" Leonard mumbled frustratedly.

"What's with you dude?" Raj scrunched up his face.

"He's into her." Howard raised his brows, evidently enjoying himself.

"What?"

"Leonard has a crush on Penny and believes her knowing the extent of his obsession with Star Wars will hinder any chance he has at starting a relationship with her." Howard explained with a laugh.

"Shh! Not so loud! She might hear you! Are you crazy?" Leonard frantically tried to hush his friend.

"Well at least she would know if she heard me saying that!" Howard argued. "Plant the seed in her mind. Then she can start working on how to let you down easy while you work up the courage to ask her out."

"Who's to say she'll say no?"

"You seriously think the hot blonde scientist is going to want to go out with a sort-of actor like you?" Raj challenged.

"Umm..." Leonard looked at his hands. His friends were right; there was every reason that Penny would say no if he ever managed to ask her out. She was beautiful with big ambitions, he was struggling with his own aspirations and instead focused his passion on collecting comic books. She looked hot, and he looked... well, Leonard didn't really want to go there. His confidence already suffered enough without jabbing at his own appearance. Still, surely the chance of a relationship with Penny wasn't _totally _ruled out just because of those differences. "Maybe?"

"What would you do even if you _did _ask her out? Force her to watch Star Wars?" Howard asked.

"She doesn't like Star Wars." Sheldon reminded them, missing the joke.

"Shut up! Maybe she likes it, she just doesn't think she does because of her old roommate." Leonard justified. "That's a possibility."

"An unlikely one." Raj snorted. "This is going to be a fun journey, watching you try to chase her."

"I'm not sure what's more likely; Leonard advancing in his career or Leonard successfully dating Penny." Sheldon pondered.

"I thought I told you guys to shut up!" Leonard groaned.

"You did, we just chose to ignore your request."

* * *

><p>"Penny? What are you doing here?" Sheldon raised a brow; she knew, after all, that they were due to begin their Star Wars marathon within the next half hour when Howard and Raj arrived.<p>

"I brought some stuff over for you guys to enjoy during your marathon." Penny held a bag up. "I got some goodies after my shift last night."

"So you brought us leftovers from the Cheesecake Factory?" Sheldon scrunched up his face.

"They're not leftovers!"

"We already eat at the Cheesecake Factory once a week, why would we want more food from there?"

"Ugh, most people would say thank you." Penny rolled her eyes. "Where's Leonard?"

"He's in his room."

"Okay. So can you let me in?"

Sheldon stared at her for a moment. "Alright. As long as you leave before the Star Wars marathon."

"Trust me, I will be gone by then." Sheldon stepped aside and gestured into the apartment. Penny came inside and he closed the door behind her before watching her head to the hallway and stop. "Which one is Leonard's room?"

"The one at the end. You're going to his room?"

"Well I'm not exactly gonna just sit here with you and wait since you don't want the food I brought."

"Very well."

Penny rolled her eyes in Sheldon's direction before heading down to the end of the hallway and knocking on the door. "Leonard?"

Inside his room, Leonard raised a brow upon hearing Penny's voice. Curiously, he went over and opened it. "Penny?"

"Hey! Can I come in? I bought you some stuff for your Star Wars thingy." She held the bag up and he let her into his room. "It's just some food from the Cheesecake Factory but I thought you'd like it anyway. Wow, you have a _lot _of stuff in here." Penny observed as she looked around at the vast array of comics, figurines and posters in his room.

"Yeah... I like to collect memorabilia." Leonard shuffled his feet, embarrassed. He wished he hadn't let her into his room. At least his bed was made.

She sat down on the bed and held the bag out to him. "Here."

Taking the bag, Leonard saw small takeaway boxes of fruit salad, an assortment of what he recognised to be starters from the menu, and a two large boxes at the bottom which he assumed to be cheesecakes. He wondered if she'd forgotten that he was lactose intolerant. "Thank you, Penny, they'll come in really useful. Raj is planning on bringing low-calorie snacks so these will definitely be better."

"That's great! And don't worry, I got the chef to make some cheese-free nachos for you and a cheesecake using dairy free products. Did you know there's actually non-dairy versions of stuff? How cool is that? I don't know if it tastes the same but it doesn't smell any different. The other box is just slices of different cakes, but that cheesecake has no dairy or lactose so you can eat that if you don't want to risk the others."

"Really?" Leonard was stunned. She _had _remembered. And she'd had a special one made for him!

"Yeah. My friend and I did some stuff a while back to optimise the kitchen so we get a few perks every now and then; I just had to ask." Penny grinned proudly. "But we didn't do _that _much stuff, so don't expect more dairy free cheesecakes in the near future."

"Oh, absolutely, no, this is great. I'm looking forward to finally getting to eat some of this cheesecake."

"They _are _our specialty, after all."

"I wouldn't have guessed what with it being called the Cheesecake Factory."

"Oh shut up." Penny kicked a leg out in his direction. "So you excited for your marathon thingy?"

Figuring that since she already knew the extent of his passion for Star Wars, Leonard decided to involve her in his current situation. "I am; they're always fun. I'm just trying to decide which t-shirt Star Wars themed to wear: the blue one or the black one."

"Ooh, you're really going all out for this, aren't you?" Penny giggled. "Let's see these t-shirts then."

"Okay." Leonard picked up the two t-shirts he had laid out on his armchair and held them up, one in each hand. "These."

"Umm..." Penny tilted her head in consideration, which Leonard found adorable - especially coupled with her thoughtful pout. "Well, black is _always _a great color for picking clothes. It works with everything. But blue - that color really suits you."

Puffing out his chest, Leonard found himself smiling. "Really?" He turned to hold the blue t-shirt against himself and see his reflection in the mirror. He didn't get the whole 'color suits you' thing (he never did understand that) but it _was _a cool t-shirt. Though if he was honest, if Penny liked the blue t-shirt, he didn't need much convincing beyond her approval. "Okay, blue t-shirt it is."

"Yay! Put it on, I wanna see."

Not understanding what the obsession was with wanting to see him wear a different t-shirt - awesome as it was, it _was _just a t-shirt after all - Leonard shrugged. Girls and clothes just made no sense in his opinion. "Okay. I'll be right back."

"You don't have to leave the room just to change your t-shirt, Leonard."

"Oh. Okay." Leonard shuffled over to his armchair so he was slightly further away from her, a little shy about changing in front of her. Though he had to admit he did have the bonus of keeping fit as an actor - he'd been in worse shape. Maybe taking his top off however briefly would give him a bonus point in his attempts to get her to like him. He thought he could feel her eyes on him as he started to remove his layers but he didn't risk looking over.

Once he'd removed his t-shirt, Penny found herself biting down on her lip. This guy really wore too many layers.

"What do you think?"

His question brought Penny out of her mini-trance. "Uh-huh. Yeah, it looks great." Clearing her throat, she nodded. "Perfect for your marathon. It looks comfortable and great. Yeah, blue really suits you." She was prepared to hit herself on the head for not being able to shut up.

"Great!" Leonard grinned, happy that she liked his t-shirt so much. Girls liked clothes, so if she liked his, that was a good thing - right? "Next time I have an audition I'll have to ask you to help me pick out an outfit."

"Yes!" Penny agreed a little too enthusiastically.

"Okay, awesome." Leonard chuckled nervously. She seemed to be acting strange; maybe she didn't really want to help him. Or maybe she just _really _liked clothes. He had been told before that he should consider his appearance when going for auditions or meeting with directors - but he never understood just what was wrong with the way he looked. The corduroy suit was always a winner, so perhaps it was the shoes. Either way, at least he now had somebody to help him in that department.

Standing up, Penny ran her hands down her sides. "I should get going, Sheldon didn't want me to be here when Raj and Howard arrived so you guys can start the marathon promptly and I have stuff to do, so... yeah. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"I'll see you out." Leonard smiled, leading the way out of his room and back to the living room. "Thanks for helping with the t-shirt."

"Oh, no problem. At _all_." Penny raised her brows. "Any time, seriously. Have fun with your marathon!"

* * *

><p>With the guys having their marathon, Penny went out that night with a few of her friends. She loved going out; spending time with her friends and not having to worry about her school work or moving or anything else was great - a time to just enjoy herself. They had pre-drinks at her friends house before heading out to a club. Initially she was wary of dancing with other guys and kept declining, and eventually her friends got at her: "that's so unlike you" "but he was so into you!" "why didn't you just say yes?" all repeatedly cropped up. And the more she drank, the clearer it was to her that she <em>did <em>have a reason as to why she was keeping to herself so much. And after the fifth tequila shot, she needed to prove to herself that she was wrong: Leonard was _not _the reason she was saying no to other guys. Absolutely not. She never reserved herself for another guy when she was single. Maybe she was just off her game. That must be it, right?

And so she danced with a few guys and then drank some more. She kissed one guy and then stopped because his over-muscular form reminded her of Kurt. Then she made out with a different one, but she didn't feel the heat or excitement or pleasure that usually came with it - her lips went through the motions, but her mind wandered. What the hell was this guy doing with his tongue? It was weird. Why had she worn this dress? It's not like anyone important was going to see her in it. And what would she have to eat tomorrow when she was inevitably hungover? She definitely didn't have the food supplies in her own fridge for that, and considering how much she had already spent tonight and the inevitable food cart snack she'd get upon leaving cancelled out the option of getting a takeaway. Penny moved the guys hand away from her ass and ended the kiss before going to wash her mouth out with two shots of Vodka. Not something she often did, but some people's kissing skills caused that necessity. The rest of the night was spent dancing with her girlfriends before one of their boyfriends picked them up and dropped them all off to their respective apartments.

She awoke the next morning without any clothes on but in her bed, and Penny was greatly relieved to be one hundred percent certain she had been alone all night. Pajamas had always been too much of an effort to locate and put on after nights out, especially after spending hours in a tight dress. She clung on to any surface she could on her way to the bathroom and then kitchen, needing the support for her hungover self. Once she'd crawled back into bed with a bottle of water, intent on spending her morning there feeling sorry for her hungover self, she checked through her phone before lying back down for a few more hours rest. It was midday when she next had the energy to pick up her phone, and just as luck had it there was a message from Leonard with a few of her favourite words: _**Off to pick up some takeaway for lunch, want me to bring you some to aid the inevitable hangover? **_

It was both sweet and funny; sweet that he thought of her and remembered her telling him she'd be going out, and funny because - and perhaps it was just her 'inevitable hangover' that made it funny - the phrasing of his question seemed almost like he was mocking her. Perhaps he was, but she couldn't tell his expression just from a text message. She replied with a _**Yes please! **_before scrolling through her messages and photos to check out the damage from the night before. Nothing too bad from what she could see, just some embarrassing photos that she definitely would not be sharing. She did the same with Facebook and then uploaded a few herself. Looking at her profile page, she smiled at the contradictory information and photos - the blonde party girl who worked as a waitress, but had a Masters degree in Physics. Soon enough she would be able to update that educational information. And perhaps the relationship status too, which had been dauntingly announcing that she was single for a while now - but now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things.

Or perhaps not, as she heard a knock at the door followed by Leonard's voice calling out "Penny? I've got you some food!"

Grinning, she put down the phone. "Come in, it's open!"

It suddenly dawned on her that she was still naked and she managed to cover herself properly with her comforter just as Leonard stepped into her bedroom. Seeing her holding it cautiously against her chest, Leonard cleared his throat. "Oh, umm, sorry." He said, as though it was _his _fault that she hadn't bothered to even put a robe on before he'd arrived.

"No, it's okay, I just... forgot." Penny blushed, shifting slightly in the bed. "I was going to put some on after I showered. Promise." She didn't know why she was trying to explain herself to Leonard or why just _being _naked under her comforter was embarrassing - it wasn't something she'd ever been so shy about before. He didn't need to know that, of course, but she also knew she was allowed to be naked in her own apartment. Part of her began to think perhaps it would be fun to mess around with him a little, but she figured that he would most likely shy away or get the wrong idea - or not get her hints at all. She realized that he was just staring around her room while she stared at him, so she suddenly spoke up. "So, takeaway! What did you get?"

"What? Oh!" Leonard shook his head to focus his mind back to the situation. "Pizza, I got pizza. And fries, if you want some. If not we'll just have extra."

"No, I love fries! Pizza and fries sounds _amazing _right now. Thank you."

"No problem. How was your night?" Leonard asked, pulling out the bag of fries and small pizza box he'd gotten for Penny. The pizza place had been a bit confused by the change to his usual order, and when he explained that it was for his friend who had a hangover the guy had given him a knowing look. He'd almost responded with "I _wish_" but held it back. He _definitely _wished right now, especially knowing she was naked beneath her comforter.

"Yeah, it was good. Same old routine; drink, dance, gossip, come home... take off my clothes, too drunk to find jammies, sleep in the mess that is my bed, feel sorry for my hungover self, question why I had tequila..." Penny again found herself questioning why she was trying to explain her lack of clothing to him. Her mind yelled 'because you want him to know you didn't bring a guy home!' but she tried to shun that thought away.

"Well, the pictures look fun."

"They were fun at the time but I just look like a state in them all. Hey, you should come with us one day!"

"Oh..." Leonard was surprised by her sudden offer. "I dunno, it's not really my thing."

"Really? Come on, you're an actor, surely you've been to all these after parties and stuff. It's gotta be kind of your thing at least."

"Not really. For me it's just stand awkwardly in the corner and get ignored by the girls."

"Well then how about you come with my and my friends one day and we'll show you a good time." _Ha, "we'll"... more like I'm gonna show you a good time_, Penny instantly thought.

He was hesitant, but Leonard agreed anyway. How could he not agree to anything she said? "Alright."

"And I wanna come to the next after party you go to."

Grinning, Leonard nodded. That would improve the next after party for sure. "Deal." _Just don't flirt with any of the other actors. _He decided to let that panic slide until the situation arose. By the time he next had an after party to go to, perhaps he and Penny would be a bit closer - but still, there was no doubt there'd be better looking and more successful people than him there. He'd have to think about that later. Right now he was just excited that she would go with him. "I'll leave you to your pizza and shower. Sheldon's probably sat in his spot with steam coming out of his ears waiting for the food."

"Ah, right. Gotta feed the crazy." Penny giggled. "Thanks for the food. Hope you had a fun Star Wars marathon!"

This got Leonard grinning in a way she had never seen before. "It was _the best_. I'll tell you about it when you're less hungover and more clothed."

* * *

><p>Knocking on the door to 4A, Penny felt... strange. She felt like the dorky version of herself that her friends always teased her about. But she also felt great about herself, because she knew Sheldon was currently out and Leonard was currently in on his own. Something about it was almost nerve-wracking, because her reason for visiting was almost unreasonable and stupid, though she knew that Leonard would be very pleased with it.<p>

After a few seconds, Leonard opened the door, surprised to see Penny there. "Hey! What's up?"

"Umm, well, yesterday you said you'd tell me about your Star Wars marathon. And I got another of those dairy free cheesecakes made because I helped chef's son with his homework and babysat. So then we played his Lego Star Wars video game. So I thought, uh, you could tell me about your marathon and we could play the game because I saw you had that game too. And eat cheesecake." Penny held out the paper bag to him. _Okay, asking guys straight out on a date is way easier. This is just... scary. _

"Oh, awesome!" Leonard grinned, completely missing her nervousness due to his excitement that she wanted to play the video game. "Come in, I'll pour you some coffee - I just made it, I had a lie in to make up for the lack of sleep during our marathon."


	5. 4 Fascinating

The next few weeks continued in a similar manner: Penny making various attempts at getting closer to Leonard, who never got the hint. She had never tried so hard in her life to get the attention of a guy or persistently find ways to impress him. Sure, she had worked to impress guys before but it had always been easy and in the same way - use her looks and confidence to their fullest advantage. But Leonard was different; he was shy and anxious, taking all of her advances as friendly gestures - and he was not accustomed to friendly gestures in the first place, so he was always slightly overwhelmed by those alone.

Having completed a morning shift, Penny and Bernadette both decided to have their lunch at the Cheesecake Factory since it was free and the restaurant was fairly empty.

"So how is it going with Leonard?" Bernadette asked as they sat down with their coffees.

"What do you mean?" Penny asked innocently, stirring her coffee.

"_Please_! I see you attempting to flirt with him every single time he and his friends come in here for dinner. Oh and by the way, your attempts are getting lamer and lamer."

"Ugh, I know!" Penny groaned, throwing her spoon down onto the table. "What the hell has gotten into me?"

"I'd say your inner scientist is getting influenced by that nerd and you're just... becoming the stereotypical shy, awkward girl scientist trying to ask out a guy she has a crush on." Bernadette grinned.

"That is such a load of crap." Penny scoffed, though she knew Bernadette was probably right.

"If it's such a load of crap then why don't _you _explain to me why you haven't just gone up to him and asked him out like you normally would with any other guy you were attracted to?"

"Because!" Penny said instantly, getting defensive, though she had nothing to continue with and fell silent just as quickly.

"Because..."

Sighing, Penny stared at her coffee before taking a sip. "I dunno, I have my reasons. I don't have to tell you them."

"When is the last time you had a crush on a guy? Like, _really _liked him. Not just wanted to sleep with him."

Thinking, Penny chewed on her lip. When _was _the last time? "Guys usually come to me, or they're hot so I go up to them and we have dinner and then we have sex. Sometimes that becomes a relationship and sometimes it's just... two hot people being naked together for a while."

"Have you ever been in a relationship where it _wasn't _just for the sex?"

"Obviously! _God_ Bernadette, I'm not _that _slutty."

"Okay, you name one guy where you went out with him because you actually liked the person and not just their penis."

"Well, there was..." Penny paused, desperately trying to think of someone. Anyone. Literally anyone. "You know..." She racked her brain further before rolling her eyes. "Okay maybe I am that slutty."

"So maybe that's your problem." Bernadette giggled.

"That I'm a slut?"

"No! Well, yes, actually. You like Leonard as a person and you want him to like _you _as a person, and you've never had to deal with that before. And maybe because he's the first guy who didn't instantly try to get with you, even when you practically _told _him to ask for your number."

Peering at Bernadette, Penny frowned. "So when you asked me how things were going with Leonard, you really just wanted to remind me that I couldn't get a guys number for the first time in my life."

"No, that wasn't my intention, it was just a fortunate coincidence that I could bring that back up." Bernadette grinned. "But seriously. You need to up your game, it's just becoming embarrassing now to watch."

"Ugh, but it's so much harder now that we're friends! I don't wanna ruin that! But at the same time I want... more. I want all of that and more. But I don't know how to do that. I usually just want the more part, not the friends part."

"You'll figure it out."

"Sometimes I feel like I have to conform to this... weird, dorky version of me when I'm around him. I mean, I kind of like it. Maybe that _is _me. But I feel like... I feel like because I'm a scientist and I'm smart and I'm a girl, he's confused by me because I'm also that blonde who goes out and has a job as a waitress. People always find that so weird."

"So maybe you are a little nerdy on the side and he brings that out in you, is that so bad? And weren't you the one telling us all how weird it is that he's an actor which seems really cool but is into all of this weird nerdy stuff? Nobody adds up, Penny, that's what makes us interesting. It means everybody has something to teach somebody."

"Yeah... maybe. This is all just weird and new and I actually _like _him." Penny bit her lip in thought. "Maybe I do a little bit of the classic undo a few shirt buttons and wear a push up bra for when they come for dinner tomorrow."

"Now _that's _a classic Penny move. Not helping on the slutty front, but he'll notice." Bernadette laughed. "Now what about that guy he's always with? What's he like?"

"Which one?"

"The one with the turtleneck."

"Oh, Howard?" Penny scrunched up her face. "He's... Howard." Getting an inkling that perhaps Bernadette was interested in him, she decided not to elaborate too much. Especially since Bernadette had found him cute the first time the group of four had walked into the restaurant. "Jewish, nerdy, wears a lot of turtlenecks."

"Next time you're having dinner with all of them, you should invite me."

"Nope, nuh-uh. I am _not _setting you up with one of Leonard's friends when I can't even set myself up with Leonard. You'll just have to wait."

"Or I could try for myself and serve their table instead of you since your attempts to flirt with Leonard aren't going anywhere." Bernadette smirked.

"No. Let me try the shirt thing first."

"Fascinating. You claim you're not that slutty and that it's different with Leonard... yet after several failed attempts you revert to the old shirt trick."

"How is that fascinating?"

"Because I have never seen you _that _desperate to get someone to notice you in that way."

* * *

><p>He had always thought that Penny was beautiful, even in her uniform, but when he and the guys went for their weekly dinner at the Cheesecake Factory Leonard was taken aback by how... <em>amazing <em>Penny looked. He thought she was wearing less make-up than usual but somehow her eyes looked very prominent. Soft curls framed her face perfectly. He couldn't quite put a finger on what was different about her uniform; while she spoke he was distracted by her red, glossy lips. She kept looking at him and he figured he should really stop staring, but that was easier said than done.

"Here are your drinks!" Penny announced, minutes into the conversation he was having with the guys about a deleted scene from the film they had watched earlier.

And that's when he figured out what was different about her uniform. She gave the rest of them their drinks, and then came over to lean directly beside him to place his drink down. She had undone at least two shirt buttons, but he couldn't be sure exactly how many because he was distracted by what was beneath the shirt. He knew it was rude to stare, but it was impossible not to. She did the same when she brought him his food out too. Briefly he wondered if she was aware of what she was doing, or if perhaps the display was for someone else. But as he watched her doing her job, she never bent forward anywhere near as much to give people their food or drinks - or maybe he was just imagining it to convince himself that she was doing it for him. That evening, he convinced his friends that they stay for dessert, just to see if she would do it a third time. She did.

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Penny's face lit up as she opened the door to see Leonard. The remainder of the summer vacation period had come and gone, and still they had been unable to progress from their friendship, though they had gotten a lot closer - both of them making shy attempts at spending time alone together and getting involved with what the other was doing. His current presence at her apartment had already lightened the nerves she had been feeling all morning.<p>

"Hey, Penny. I just wanted to wish you luck on your first day." Leonard smiled. "I got you a present." He held out a small gift bag to her, smiling nervously.

"Aww, thank you!" Penny took the bag from him and pulled out a pink Filofax; one she had had her eye on whilst online shopping but never purchased due to it's price: she'd simply not been able to justify it knowing she could buy a less fancy but far cheaper one instead, considering her general lack of organization. She grinned excitedly as she flicked through the pages, seeing the academic theme throughout. "Oh my God! This is amazing, thank you _so _much. It's perfect."

"Good. I'm glad." Leonard breathed a small sigh of relief. "I was worried you might have already gotten yourself one or you didn't want this one."

"No, I've wanted it for ages but... thank you, Leonard." Penny said again, before pulling him into a hug. When she pulled away, she looked at it again. "How did you know?"

"That time when you used my laptop to do some shopping online you left the tab open on your Amazon wish list and it was right at the top." Leonard shrugged. "I logged out right afterwards but I always remembered it and I thought you might like it now that you're officially starting your Ph.D."

"God, you're the best. This is so nice. Thank you." Penny couldn't stop smiling.

"I'm glad you like it. Do you want a ride to the university, by the way? I'm taking Sheldon but you can just put headphones in or something so you don't have to listen to him."

"Really? That would be great! Then I don't have to worry completely about being on my own on my first day! When are you leaving?"

"Ten minutes. Or, you know, whenever, Sheldon comes out of that door moaning that it's time to leave if we want to avoid being late."

"Oh, yeah, that would really be great. Again, thank you. You wanna come in?"

"Well it's better than going back there and listening to Sheldon, so sure." Leonard followed her into the apartment, taking a seat on her couch.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"And you have to be honest."

"Okay?"

"How do I look?"

Leonard blinked for a moment. This was probably one of the only times he _hadn't _been entirely focused on how she looked. He took in her outfit which was different than usual; more school themed with a dark skirt and pink button-up blouse and dark cardigan to match with black pumps. She was over-compensating for the whole idea of being academic, but he didn't blame her. She had tied her hair up into a ponytail, a few loose strands framing her face. Her hands curled nervously over the edges of her cardigan as she awaited his response, and he looked up at her and smiled. "You look great."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay. Good." Penny ran her hands down her sides. "I just want to make a good first impression with my mentor, you know."

"You will, don't worry." Leonard assured her.

Flopping down next to Leonard on the couch, Penny sighed. "You know, all your friends told me there's gonna be so much work and it's gonna be so tough, but I wasn't nervous about any of that until this morning."

"Don't worry about it; you're smart enough for this and if you ever need help, I'm right there for you. And you know three people with doctorates already who can help you - though I wouldn't recommend asking Sheldon."

"Yeah." Penny nodded slowly.

"And hey, you're not the only nervous person in this room. I have an audition tomorrow." Leonard said: he'd been keeping this information to himself for almost two weeks now. He hadn't wanted to take away from Penny's upcoming start to her doctoral studies, but felt now perhaps she would take some comfort in knowing she wasn't the only one feeling the way she was. Besides, it was nice to get it off his chest. Perhaps he could even run lines with her; he was certain that would go better than with Sheldon.

"Really? Tomorrow? Oh my God! Why didn't you tell me before? What's it for? Are you prepared?" Penny couldn't shut up; all of a sudden she was excited beyond belief, gripping his arm tightly. "Do you need me to run lines? Shall I come to the audition with you for like, moral support?"

"You don't have to come... nobody brings anybody with them anyway. And I don't want you to miss any classes. But yeah, running lines would be helpful - although you're busy with this, so-"

"No, here, look, tonight after dinner I'll come over and you can show me your audition piece and ooh, I can pick out an outfit for you!"

Smiling, Leonard nodded. "Okay. That sounds nice."

"How about I wait in the car for you at the audition? I only have a class in the morning tomorrow so I'm free for the rest of the day. Then you're not on your own the whole time there and back. I can use the waiting time to do research." Penny suggested.

"If you want to." Leonard shrugged, though his insides were yelling _yes please_!

"Of course I do." Penny assured him, patting his hand.

Their conversation was halted when Sheldon appeared in the doorway of Penny's apartment. "Leonard, let's go."

"Okay. Penny's coming with us too." Leonard said as he stood up.

Giving Penny a skeptical look, Sheldon folded his arms. "Fine. But I still get shotgun."

* * *

><p>Having agreed to meet Bernadette for lunch and catch each other up on their first days, Penny waited for her friend in the canteen. It was quite busy, so she had sat at the end of a table occupied by a brown-haired girl who was on her own. Penny figured at least if Bernadette didn't show up, she could keep this girl company since she didn't appear to be waiting for anybody. She had seen her earlier on her tour of the Physics department, but Penny couldn't remember who she was or what she did - everything was already so confusing. When they were both still alone five minutes later, Penny moved over a seat.<p>

"Are you waiting for somebody?"

The girl shook her head. "No."

"Oh. I'm waiting for my friend, but she's late. I'm Penny." She extended her hand over the table.

"Amy Farrah Fowler." Amy shook Penny's hand warily.

"What do you do here? I think I saw you earlier."

"I'm a theoretical physicist here at the university."

"Oh wow, that's so cool!" Penny grinned. "I'm a Ph.D. student here, but I'm focusing more on experimental physics."

"Yes, you do look like the type of girl who enjoys playing with big lasers." Amy observed. "Though I find it difficult to believe you are studying for a Ph.D."

"I know, I get that a lot. But hey - girls can be scientists too, right?" Penny held her hand up for a high five that wasn't reciprocated. "O-kay, well..." She put her hand back down awkwardly and looked around, finally spotting Bernadette. "Oh, there she is!"

Penny introduced Bernadette to Amy, and then the two friends told each other about how their days had gone so far. Ten minutes later, Penny spotted four familiar faces and instantly waved them over. She'd chosen not to visit Leonard's office just yet, not wanting to seem too eager on her first day and make it more casual. Besides, she wasn't even sure how to get to the IT department.

"Hey guys!" Penny grinned as Leonard led them over, Sheldon at the back looking annoyed and she knew she had probably disrupted the timeframe he set himself for his lunch break.

"Hey," Leonard grinned. "How's your first day going?"

"Great! Confusing, but great!" Penny laughed. "This is my friend Bernadette, by the way, she works with me at the Cheesecake Factory - well, you've probably seen her - and she's a student here too." She heard somebody clear their throat and realized it was Amy. "Oh, and that's Amy Farrah Fowler, who is a theoretical physicist here."

"It's nice to meet you both." Leonard smiled politely.

Bernadette kicked Penny hard under the table and she had to refrain from jumping and rolling her eyes. Sighing, she looked at her friend and then back at the guys. "You guys want to join us?"

Sheldon was about to protest, but Leonard quickly jumped in with "sure!" and they all took seats at the table. Leonard sat next to Penny with Sheldon on the other side of him. To Bernadette's delight, Howard sat beside her. With Amy in the seat on the other side of Howard, Raj sighed and grabbed an unused chair from another table to sit at the end.

"So what do you guys all do here?" Bernadette asked.

"Well, Leonard's actually an actor, but he works here at the IT department." Penny explained. "Sheldon is an astrophysicist, Raj is in neurobiology and Howard is in microbiology."

"Staff or students?"

"Staff, of course." Sheldon said, as though the idea of being a student was preposterous.

"And what do you study?" Howard asked.

"I'm doing my Masters in Engineering."

"I'm sorry." Howard half-choked on his juice. "_You're _studying Engineering?"

"Yup." Bernadette squinted at him, suddenly liking him a lot less. "Masters."

"In Engineering."

"Yes."

"That's... surprising."

Folding her arms, Bernadette scowled. "What, girls can't be engineers? Is that what you're saying?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying!" Howard said quickly. "Just..."

"Just _what_?"

"Just... I didn't expect you to be studying... that."

"Howard," Sheldon interjected, "I have recently learned that you should not judge a female by her choice of academia to her face or she will get _very _angry."

Penny rolled her eyes. "Seriously guys, why is it so hard to believe that girls can study this stuff too and be good at it?"

"Well, a Masters is _hardly _a Ph.D." Sheldon scoffed.

"Sheldon!" Leonard warned, in half a mind to slap him.

"Though I suppose it is easier to believe Bernadette is studying for a Masters in Engineering than it is to believe Penny is studying for her Ph.D. in Physics." Sheldon concluded, ignoring Leonard's warning.

"Oh yeah? What about Amy?" Penny gestured a hand over to Amy, who was quietly eating her sandwich.

"What about her?" Sheldon asked.

"She's a theoretical physicist. Do you find _that _hard to believe?"

"Well, she doesn't look like you or Bernadette." Howard observed. "She's not as-"

"What?" Bernadette cut in sharply.

"It's okay." Amy said, glancing over at the group. "I'm exactly what people expect of a girl scientist. I'm not hot, I don't have any friends and my mother still buys my clothes."

"Nobody said you're not hot. Or any of that stuff." Bernadette said, trying to save the conversation.

"No, but he implied it. Don't worry, people have told me to my face. My mother says it's what's in my brain that matters, not what's on the outside." Amy shrugged.

"That is a remarkable approach to life." Sheldon said, slightly in awe.

"I'm not sure remarkable is the word I'd use..." Howard mumbled.

"It's truly fascinating how men thinks girls can't be anything more than what they appear to be on the outside." Amy stated as she packed her sandwich back into her lunch box. "I will leave you all to it. I was okay with two people on my table, but this is far too many and I am not comfortable with such a large number of strangers surrounding me while I eat."

* * *

><p>"Anybody home?" Penny grinned as she cracked open the door to Leonard's office; a tiny room off from the main lobby area of the IT department.<p>

"Hey! Take a seat." Leonard pointed to the two chairs at his desk. "How was your first day, then?"

"It was good, I think. Nobody hates me, and I made a lot of notes, so it's a good start." Penny said, sitting down in one of the chairs. "How was your day?"

"I had quite a few students having issues connecting to the campus WiFi or logging in to their accounts, but that always happens. It'll be the same for a few weeks then things will die down." Leonard shrugged.

"Yeah, you'll have to guide me through that campus account thingy. It's so complicated looking." Penny lied; she'd navigated it just fine on her own. "But we can do that another day, you have your audition tomorrow so we need to focus on that."

"I can guide you through the campus account now if you'd like." Leonard offered.

"Oh, no, that's okay." Penny said quickly. She'd have to log out and delete the site history from her browser before she could get him to help her out. "Like I said, we need to focus on your audition. I came by to make sure I could find your office and see when you'd be heading home."

"I've still to finish up this system update." Leonard sighed. "It's not gonna be too long but I'll be at least another half hour."

"That's okay! I don't mind waiting for you to finish; I can get started on this work in that time."

"You sure?"

"Yeah! I'll just text Bernadette, she was gonna drop me home after her class finishes in ten minutes but now she won't have to." Penny grinned, pulling out her phone.

The next forty-seven minutes were spent in silence as the two of them worked, filled with pauses where they'd smile at each other or thoughtful hums. And although it wasn't the most exciting time they'd shared together, Penny felt it to be an incredibly productive way to work.

* * *

><p>"How did your audition go?" Penny asked, closing her laptop as Leonard got back into the car.<p>

"It was alright." Leonard shrugged. Penny raised her brows at him and he sighed. "The actual audition was fine. It went pretty well. But judging by all the other guys who were auditioning, I don't think I'm... right for the part."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Penny patted his leg sympathetically. "But hey, at least you were the best dressed there - right?"

That made him smile; he had to admit, he _did _feel much more confident in the outfit Penny had picked out for him. He definitely looked better than some of the people in there, even if they had looked physically better than him. "I would have won Best Dressed for sure."


	6. 5 Schrödinger

At the end of the week, Penny and Bernadette went out with a few of the friends they had made on their respective courses to celebrate completing their first week at Caltech. Bernadette was still annoyed about Howard and freely bitched about his judgmental comments while they drank, though the were often started with 'just because he's cute'. However Bernadette also wasted no time informing the whole group of Penny's not-so-subtle crush on Leonard after one of Penny's course mates had asked about the "little glasses guy" she was always with. It was this culmination of questioning and teasing and her own annoyance with not managing to get anywhere further with Leonard that got Penny back into her old self when it came to flirting while drunk.

Of course, this didn't come without it's consequences.

* * *

><p>"Oh my <em>God<em>." Bernadette laughed, throwing her head back as she slapped Penny's phone onto her thigh.

"Don't laugh! It's embarrassing!" Penny snatched her phone back, instantly regretting showing Bernadette the messages she had sent Leonard the night before.

"It's hilarious! I can't believe you said that to him!" Bernadette squealed, stamping her feet up and down. "Oh my God, I keep thinking about it! _I could sure use YOUR PHD right about now_! Oh my God it's still funny! I can't _believe _you sent him that!"

"Neither can I! Who even _says _that? God, I was doing so well-"

"At what? _Not _getting together with Leonard?" Bernadette smirked, wiping tears from her eyes.

Scowling, Penny shoved her phone into her apron. "Shut up."

"Okay, so you came across... pretty slutty and... kinda desperate. Which, lets face it, you are. But you just have to do some damage control; explain that you were _really _drunk, ask if you can both forget about it and go back to your usual mutual failed attempts to hit on each other."

"Mutual?" Penny raised a brow.

"Well you're not the only one trying to get the other one to notice them and failing spectacularly at doing so."

"Huh." Penny grinned; so she _was _right in thinking that Leonard was kinda-sorta flirting with her. This definitely improved the situation somewhat. "You know, maybe I should throw a Halloween party. Then I can invite the guys and... see how things go."

"You think throwing a party is gonna solve the situation?"

"Well after last night, it couldn't make it _worse_."

"Fair point. Things really couldn't be going worse for you right now."

"Plus it gives you a chance to get to know Howard a little better."

"He became a _lot _less attractive when I realized he's a sexist pig." Bernadette folded her arms stubbornly.

"Look, he was just a little surprised that you were an Engineer - but hey, most people are. And he obviously doesn't get a lot of girls - well, decent ones at least - so maybe he just doesn't know how to act around them. Just give him a chance, you thought he was cute, right?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Look, I'll suggest to Leonard that we all have lunch together in the cafeteria on Monday and I'll invite them to the party. It can be a costume party - they _love _costumes. And you can spread the word to all the Masters students, I'll spread the word to the doctoral students and they can invite their friends and then it looks all... casual and stuff."

"Wow, you're really putting a lot of thought into this."

"It's a party, of course I'm putting a lot of thought into it. Just because I'm getting my Ph.D. doesn't mean I'm losing my party-throwing reputation." Penny pointed out. She stood up, straightening her uniform. "I think I'm gonna dress up as a cat."

"Why a cat?"

"Because I have this cute black crop top I haven't worn yet and cats are cute."

"So basically this costume party is an excuse for you to be slutty."

"I'm not _being _slutty. Just... wearing fewer clothes."

"Have you ever considered that perhaps your problem is that you revert to all this stuff rather than _actually _trying to form a relationship out of just... you know, talking to him and going to dinner and taking it slow?"

Penny glared at Bernadette for a moment. "Oh shut up."

"This whole party idea is pretty ridiculous. You're just gonna get drunk and look stupid. _Again_. And then you're gonna regret it."

"That's not what's gonna happen!"

"I'm telling you, it is."

"You know what? I'm gonna prove you wrong. I'm not going to be like that at the party. You'll see."

"Yeah, yeah. And you're going to end the party by making out with Leonard."

"Hey, that _could _actually happen!"

* * *

><p>Chewing anxiously on her lip, Penny knocked on the door to 4A. Her weight shifted from foot to foot as she waited, and after a few seconds Leonard opened it.<p>

"Oh, hey Penny." Leonard smiled. All day he'd been trying to work out what he would say when he saw her and trying to figure out how to behave when a woman sends you photos practically nude and jokes about a 'PHD' - he had come up with nothing. It simply wasn't his forte.

"Hey." Penny smiled nervously. "Umm, can we talk? In private?" She added the last part after seeing the guys in the apartment, heads craned so they could see and hear her.

"Sure." Leonard nodded, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind them. "We should probably go to your place."

"What?"

"Oh, God, no, I meant - I meant because Howard will probably have his ear pressed to the door and... yeah." Leonard sighed. Why did he always have to make an ass of himself? "Never mind."

"No you're right, that's probably a good idea." Penny agreed, opening her door and letting him in, shutting the door behind him. She looked around her apartment, licking her lips nervously. Why did she always leave it in such a mess? She gestured to the couch and they both sat down. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him. "Look, I just wanted to apologize for last night."

"Oh... you don't have to."

"No, it was... I was _really _drunk. I'm sorry. It was _really _inappropriate. I mean, it was kinda funny, but... also a little embarrassing." Penny admitted. "That's not the kind of thing I would say to a guy that I..." Sighing, she shook her head. "Sorry."

"It's alright. You were drunk. I would be more concerned if that's what you texted when you were sober."

Laughing, Penny nodded. "Yeah, that would be quite some character, huh?"

"It really would." Leonard said, wondering if he should tell her about the photos she had sent via Snapchat around the same time as the texts. It must have shown on his face, because her expression turned curious.

"I remember sending you some Snapchats when I was at the club..." Penny said slowly, shuffling away slightly as the guilty look on his face grew. "Did I... send you anything... afterwards?"

"Umm... well." He cleared his throat and a look of dread fell across her face. This was easily the most awkward situation he'd ever been in. The first time he gets a somewhat sexy photo from a girl and it's because she's drunk and he has to then _tell _her about it. He wished her couch would just swallow him up whole. Still, he didn't want to lie to her. "There were some of you in a taxi with your friends. And then there were two later where you... uh..."

"What?" Penny asked cautiously. "Tell me." She said decisively.

"Alright." Leonard nodded; she wanted to know, he might as well tell her. He'd feel bad if he lied to her or didn't tell her at all. "Well, in the first one you were in front your mirror in your underwear."

"Oh God." Penny groaned. It hadn't been the most conservative underwear, just about covering what it had to so that it wouldn't be seen beneath the dress.

"And, uh, in the second one you were naked-"

"Oh _God_!"

"-But you were lying on your front in bed so I couldn't see anything."

"_Oh God_." Penny threw her head into her hands.

"There were no captions on these ones, if that helps." Leonard said awkwardly.

Suddenly, Penny looked up at him. "What do you mean _on these ones_?"

"Well... the ones you sent earlier had some... interesting captions."

"Like..."

"Just that you could spell my surname drunk. And one that said 'Penny, Ph.D.' followed by 'hot' with a _lot _of question marks." Leonard said the last part quickly to try spare them as much awkwardness as possible.

"Wow." Penny stood up and began pacing. All that she could ask herself was _why? _repeatedly with various different follow-on questions that she didn't want to venture to. "So, I guess we both had a fun night."

"It was certainly interesting." Leonard said, wishing she would just stay still. It was making him nervous. People pacing usually meant they were anxious, and he never knew how to deal with that.

Running a hand through her hair, Penny half-giggled and half-sighed. _Why _had she done that? She'd just made things ten times more difficult for them. If it were any other guy, she wouldn't care so much. Make a few jokes and brush it all off. But this was Leonard - Leonard who she _liked_, Leonard who she wanted to view her as who she was and not just how easy she was when she was drunk. "Look, Leonard, I'm really sorry. I don't wanna ruin whatever this is between us so could we just forget about it please?"

When he looked up at her, he didn't expect her to look so genuinely troubled over the situation. He almost wanted to ask her what she meant by 'whatever this is between us' but she looked upset enough already, so he decided not to go any further. "Of course. Don't worry." He gave her a small smile as he stood up. "I should get back and let you change out of your uniform."

"Right, sure." Penny nodded, walking him to the door. On a spur of the moment decision, she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Leonard."

Slightly stunned, he blinked. "Sure. Any time."

As he left her apartment, he mentally kicked himself. _Any time_? Who even said that? Him, apparently. That wasn't the right thing to say after the conversation they'd just had. And what did she mean by the whole 'whatever this is between us'? _Was _there something between them? Did she _know _he liked her? And dare he think it - did she like _him_? He paused just outside his apartment door, half wanting to go back to her place and yell "what the hell does that mean?" but also knowing that he really should just leave it. The former would answer all his questions and the latter would leave him overthinking things for the foreseeable future. Sighing, he shook his head. If she liked him, why didn't she say or do anything? He knew it was hypocritical to think that, considering he had done very little to show that he liked her. But then again - if she thought there was _something _between them, then perhaps he was doing a better job than he thought. Not much better, since she had to apologize for sending almost naked photos while drunk rather than him being her boyfriend and sending them sober and fully naked, but still - better. Their feelings weren't full in the dark. But was it really any better having them lurking in the shadows?

* * *

><p>"Come in."<p>

Penny stepped into the office of Amy Farrah Fowler nervously. "Hi, Amy. I don't know if you remember me - I'm Penny."

"I remember you." Amy nodded. "How can I help you?"

"I'm having a Halloween party this weekend and my place. It's like a mixer, everyone's invited. Would you like to come? The theme is costumes."

Although Amy wanted to point out that costumes weren't _technically _a theme and she hated parties because they never ended well for her, the excitement of being invited to a party was overwhelming. Trying to play it cool, she cleared her throat. "Can you send me an email with the time and address?"

"Of course! I have to go, I'll let you get on with your work. But I'll see you at the party, right?"

"Yes. I will do my best to attend."

* * *

><p>Penny grinned as she took a moment to look around her apartment. Everybody was enjoying themselves - and she hadn't even drunk <em>that <em>much punch. The punch was strong, so she was ever so slightly beyond tipsy, but not to the point where she would be hungover or start forgetting things. Bernadette was on the couch talking to Howard, while Raj was talking animatedly with Sheldon and Leonard. Amy was sat at the kitchen island talking to a girl Penny attended tutorials with on a Tuesday. All her work friends were enjoying themselves as much as all the people from the university, something that she had been a little anxious about.

She re-joined a group of her friends dancing by the stereo where she had been earlier as her favorite song came on, though she kept glancing around the room to keep an eye on Leonard and Bernadette - she wanted the gossip from her too, after all - but mostly Leonard. After a few songs she saw him getting up to get some punch out of the corner of her eye and quickly excused herself, squeezing through all the people in her apartment.

"Hey you," she smiled as she joined him, holding out her empty cup so he could fill it for her. "You enjoying the party?"

"Yeah, I am. It's great." Leonard nodded. Now that they were having a one-on-one conversation he found himself desperately wishing he wasn't dressed as a Hobbit. He'd made a big deal about telling Sheldon not to embarrass him earlier, and it was only just occurring to him that being a Hobbit wasn't exactly the coolest thing in the world either. "Are you?"

"Uh-huh." Penny nodded. "It's so cool to see everyone dressed up!"

"It is - though I think a lot of the people from your work are confused by Sheldon's costume."

"Yeah, waiters don't really know what the Doppler Effect is." Penny giggled.

"To be honest I only know because Sheldon told me. At least yours is easy to guess - a cat."

Putting her cup down and her hands on her hips, Penny pouted at him. "A sexy cat though, right?"

Leonard almost spat out his sip of punch. He swallowed it quickly and coughed slightly. "Right."

Satisfied, Penny grinned. "Good. How're you finding the punch?"

"It's a little strong, but it's nice."

"It's my sisters recipe. I like to make sure everyone is enjoying the party, so the punch has to be strong." Penny joked.

"Well as long as you don't have too much or you'll end up sending crazy texts like you did last time." Leonard laughed, the alcohol giving his confidence a slight boost.

"Hey! I thought we agreed we were gonna forget about that?"

"Kinda hard to forget about." Leonard smirked. Apparently this cup of punch was what he really needed to get his confidence going.

Biting her lip, Penny watched as he took another long sip. Making up her mind, she placed a hand on his arm. "Can I talk to you? Somewhere less... more private?"

"Huh?" Leonard looked at her blankly. Talking in private didn't often lead to good things in his experience, and girls _never _wanted to talk to him in private unless it was to ask for a favor in setting them up with some actor. But then he remembered Penny's words 'whatever this is between us' and wondered if it was about _that_. "O-okay. Umm, where?"

"Well... if we go in my bedroom, people are gonna talk. And if we go over to your apartment, people are still gonna speculate." Penny looked around. "So we may as well go over to your place. We don't have to walk straight through a group of people then."

"Yeah. And the hallway gives us some distance from the party." Leonard added awkwardly. She gave him a funny look and he shrugged before following her out and over to his own apartment. "It's unlocked." He said as she reached the door. She shut the door behind him and he braced himself, clasping his hands together. "So..."

Walking to the couch, Penny stopped and turned back around to face Leonard deciding that if she sat down, he would sit down too and it would make her nervous. Standing seemed more casual and less confined. She took a deep breath as she looked at him, suddenly wishing her outfit wasn't a cat and something more... dressed up. Seriously, what was she thinking? She'd gone on to Bernadette about not wanting to come off as her old slutty self, and yet her costume did exactly that: show off as much as her body as possible with clothes on. _Good move, Penny. Real smart. _

"Here's the thing-"

"Wait, before you start, is this gonna be about that thing you said about something between us? Is it gonna be bad?" Leonard asked, needing to know how prepared he should be.

And it was that question and the alcohol from the punch flowing through her system that made Penny finally snap.

"Bad? You think this is going to be _bad_? Leonard, I have been trying like _crazy _to get your attention! Most guys _throw _themselves at the smart blonde girl and you never even got the hint to ask for my number that first time we met at the Cheesecake Factory. And it's... it's so nice and refreshing but also so _frustrating_ because the more I get to know you, the harder I try. And that scares the hell out of me because I'm never like that around guys, and yet here I am. So no, Leonard, this isn't bad and yes, it is about what I said." Penny paused, realizing that perhaps practically shouting at him wasn't the most convincing way to put her point across. Taking a calming breath, she looked at him steadily. "I want for us to be more than friends."

"Oh." All he could do was stare at her. Okay, _that _he hadn't been prepared for. He wasn't sure how to respond and the alcohol from earlier wasn't really helping. Knowing that she liked him - actually _liked _him! - wasn't helping him think straight either. Slightly overwhelmed, he ran a hand through his hair. "I'd like that too." What was he supposed to do now? Kiss her? He wanted to apologize but he thought that would probably kill the mood, but he was too scared to just go for it and kiss her.

"Okay. Good." Penny bit her lip nervously, feeling slightly awkward and vulnerable, not to mention exposed. She was _seriously _regretting her costume choice now.

"So... maybe we could go out for dinner tomorrow night?" Leonard shrugged a shoulder to his ear, hoping that was the right thing to say. His heart felt like it was about to jump out of his body the way it was beating so hard.

"Yeah." Penny smiled. "That would be nice."

"And just so you know, I did notice. I was just never sure where to go from there." Leonard admitted with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Well... do you know where to go from here?" Penny asked hopefully.

_Ah_. So he _was _supposed to kiss her!

They looked awkwardly at each other as though to confirm that he did indeed know what came next, and suddenly, just like that they were kissing.

All he'd had to do was place his lips on hers and she was responding eagerly, arms around his neck and body pressing into his. His hands held her back and waist, enjoying the warmth of her skin. He loved how she kissed so passionately, as though she'd been waiting her whole life for this moment. Her fingers threaded through the curls on the back of his head while his fingers gently stroked the bare skin on her back. Shuddering in pleasure, she released a small moan before slipping her tongue into his mouth. He groaned in response and her heart fluttered.

"Leonard, I-" Sheldon's eyes went wide at the sight that greeted him as he opened the door of his apartment. "Oh. Sorry." He quickly slammed the door to 4A shut again.

"Man. That cat is definitely alive." Penny mumbled with a contented sigh once their lips had disconnected, eyes still closed.

"What?"

Grinning, she opened her eyes and looked at him. "Schrödinger's cat."

"Who?"

"I think your roommate can explain." Penny giggled, running her hands down Leonard's chest. "He probably wants to come back now."

"The cat?"

"No." Penny giggled. "Sheldon."

"Probably." Leonard sighed, cursing Sheldon's existence. And who the hell was this cat? Who was the owner? Did he _know _them?

"Guess I should get back to my party." Penny stepped toward the door, holding out her hand. "You coming?"

"No... if it's okay with you, I think I'll stay here. You know, parties aren't really my thing. I quite like the party ending this way."

"Okay." Penny said softly, still smiling. She opened the door and turned back to him. "Thank you, Leonard." Leaning in, she planted a gentle kiss on his lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

As she turned around, she bumped straight into Bernadette who was grinning from ear to ear. "Oo-ooh!"

"Oh shut up." Penny said, through an equally big grin. She made her way through her party, ignoring everybody on her way, and into her bedroom, closing the door. "_Finally_!" She squealed, doing a little victory dance on her way to the bathroom.

Back in 4A, Leonard fist-pumped the air as he jumped up victoriously. "That is how we _roll _in the shire!" He announced to the room, making his way down the hallway and to his bedroom with a spring in his step.


	7. 6 Set Up

"Come in." Amy called, curious. Less than seven days and she had a second visitor knocking on her door! She was slightly surprised to see who it was - Sheldon Cooper. They had met twice, but she had no idea why that called him to her office.

"Hello." Sheldon said awkwardly, clutching his papers to his chest protectively.

"How can I help you?"

"Umm." Sheldon looked down at the papers in his hands. After hesitating for a moment, he held them out to her. The idea of asking for assistance and sharing his work was not something he was fond of - but she was the best one for the job. "I have a theory that I require the assistance of a theoretical physicist on and wanted to know if you would be interested in reading over the work so far. Should that interest you, it would be of great help if we could collaborate on this project."

"Alright. Leave it in the 'In-Tray' over there by the door; I'll take a look at it later." Amy gestured to the specified tray dismissively.

"Okay. Thank you." Sheldon placed the papers into the tray, pausing in the doorway. "How well do you know Penny?"

"Not very well. Why?" Amy raised a brow; was she about to engage in gossip?

"I'm in a bit of an awkward situation. She and Leonard went on a date."

"Why does that put _you _in an awkward situation?"

"Let me give you a timeline of events. Saturday, she has her party and I walk in on them kissing in _my _apartment. Sunday, Leonard spends a suspiciously lengthy amount of time in the bathroom before meeting her for dinner. He arrives home in the late hours, alone. This morning, Monday, the carpool that consists of Leonard driving, with Penny and I as passengers, was completely silent."

"Okay..."

"What does that mean? Did it go badly? Should I _ask_? Do you know anything?"

"Umm... well, I don't think it went _badly_. I saw the two of them talking earlier by the coffee machine."

"Goodness gracious, it's not even midday and they're already having more coffee." Sheldon shook his head. "Well, I suppose I should ask Leonard how it went."

"Social protocol does dictate that." Amy agreed.

"How unfortunate. What's more unfortunate is that I didn't get to play a car game this morning." Sheldon sighed. "Oh well. I have to get back to work."

"Okay. I'll send you an email regarding the work proposal."

"Thank you."

* * *

><p>"Dude, did you hear that?" Raj asked in a whisper as he and Howard rushed away from Amy's office.<p>

"What? That Leonard and Penny went on a date? Of course I heard that!"

"No! Well, yes, that too, but we'll get back to that."

"Then what?"

"Amy and Sheldon. They're so perfect for each other! We should totally set them up!"

"Set them up? Are you crazy? Amy is... Amy and Sheldon is... Sheldon. You don't _set up _people like that."

"Perhaps not - but _we _totally could." Raj grinned, slowing down as they reached a safe enough distance from Amy's office to not be caught and accused of eavesdropping. "Think of it as our own joint experiment."

"Hmm." Howard frowned in thought. "An interesting proposal."

"They're going to be working together on this theory of his - we already have a head start!"

"She hasn't even read his proposal or said yes yet."

"Ah, enter _us_. We do a bit of persuading at lunch, see what she's thinking... maybe even drop a few hints that there's a _reason _Sheldon picked her of all theoretical physicists to work with." Raj wiggled his eyebrows.

"Ooh. Interesting. This could work! Okay, I'm in!" Howard high-fived his friend excitedly.

"Speaking of being in... what happened with you and Bernadette after the party?"

"Oh, nothing." Howard sighed. "I just made sure she got in her cab okay and told her I'd call."

"And have you?"

"Not yet, hence why I suggested this morning that today for lunch we go eat off campus. I don't want to bump into her and make things awkward. I've gotta be cool about it, not look like I'm rushing this, you know?"

"Yes, eating off campus is totally not suspicious when you eat in the same cafeteria every day." Raj rolled his eyes. "When are you gonna call her?"

"Maybe tonight. I think that's enough time after the party for it to seem casual and not too keen."

"I'm guessing she's forgiven you for that whole girl-engineer thing?"

"Mostly... I still have to be careful about what I say. But hey, she's not the first girl to do something like that. At least she didn't punch me like Leslie Winkle did."

"I can't believe you didn't learn from that." Raj shook his head in disbelief.

* * *

><p>"Hey stranger," Penny bit her lip as she poked her head round Leonard's office door. "Can I come in?"<p>

"Of course," Leonard smiled nervously. Having only been on a less-than-handful of dates, he had no idea how to behave on the day after the date. "How's your day going?"

"Good, I taught my first class today!" Penny flopped down into the seat at Leonard's desk. "Man, I was so nervous. Having to assist one class a week was already quite scary but teaching on my own! God."

"How did it go?"

"Not too bad, I guess. But these guys kept ogling at me so I'm gonna have to start wearing like, really bad outfits to make them stop." Penny rolled her eyes. "How about you? Any exciting computer problems?"

"Not really, but this guy did come in saying he couldn't log in to anything before he realized that he'd just been entering the wrong password."

"Wow." Penny laughed. "Smart kid, huh?"

"Totally."

Silence fell upon them for a moment, almost awkward, before Penny decided to break it. "Dinner last night was nice."

"It was." Leonard agreed quickly. It was the best dinner he'd _ever _had, and the company was the reason why. The drive around the empty streets of Pasadena and the goodbye kiss between their apartments had been nice too - _more _than nice. Heart racing, he decided to just go for it - after all, what did he have to lose? She would either say yes or no, and if she said no... they'd cross that bridge if they reached it. "We should do it again some time."

"We should." Penny agreed, blushing slightly.

_Thank God_. Leonard breathed a sigh of relief, internally doing a happy dance. She wanted to go on another date! With _him_! What were the chances of that? "Awesome." He said through a dry throat, instantly wishing he'd said something better than that.

Giggling gently, Penny nodded. "Awesome indeed."

Not wanting to stay on the subject too long, he searched his mind for something to say next and quickly remembered the news he had received earlier that day. "I got an audition for this commercial."

"That's amazing!" Penny's eyes lit up and she leaned forward in her chair. "When is it? Does that mean I get to take you shopping?"

"It's on Thursday. I guess it does."

"Yay! Oh my God, this is so exciting. Trust me, you are going to look _so _much better than anyone else who auditions for that commercial." Penny clapped her hands together. "When do you wanna go?"

"Well we still have a few days-"

"We should go tomorrow! You're coming to the restaurant for dinner with your friends, it can be like a treat day for you!"

"Sheldon will be there, that's hardly a treat." Leonard chuckled.

"Don't worry, I'll spit in his hamburger or something." Penny grinned. "You wanna run your lines with me?"

"Actually for this commercial they're going to give us the material when we get there, so I can't really practice for it." Leonard said; it was this that made him nervous. He felt much more confident when he knew the material in advance.

It must have shown on his face that this made him nervous because Penny instantly said, "Well, just as well we're going shopping then - you felt better just by me helping you pick your outfit last time, imagine how great you'll feel with a brand new outfit!"

"You're really excited about this, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! It's shopping!" Penny clapped her hands together before pulling out her Filofax. Ever since Leonard had given it to her, she'd been writing everything into it. Turning to the current week, she pouted her lips together. "Okay, so I'm free in the morning then I have a Math class to assist in the afternoon, and after that I've got a lab class... if you can be done by three thirty tomorrow then we could go straight from here?"

He found it adorable how seriously Penny was taking this. To him it was just clothes, but to her it was evidently something she was very passionate about. And he'd seen her closet; clothes were some form of religion to her by the looks of it. "Yeah, I could definitely be done by then."

"Great!" Penny pulled the pen out from it's holder and scribbled in 'shopping' in capital letters, before closing her Filofax and placing it back in her bag. "It's officially in pen now, so you can't change your mind."

"I'll be ready to leave at half three tomorrow afternoon." Leonard confirmed. Truth was, no matter how much he hated the planned activity, if Penny wanted to do it then he was never going to refuse.

"I'm so excited!" Penny grinned, clapping her hands together. "Okay, I just came to see how your day was going. I should leave for work soon otherwise I won't have time to eat something before my shift starts. I spent my lunch hour in the lab, _totally _forgot until after I finished up in there that I agreed to work today." Sighing, she stood up, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"You should definitely go get some food then." Leonard nodded, getting up too to walk her the incredibly short distance to the office door. "Do you need a ride to work?"

"It's okay, I'll get the bus over."

"Want a ride home from work when you're done?"

"Ooh. That would be good."

"Text me when you're done then and I'll come and get you."

"I finish at seven so we could always get some, uh, dinner together?" Penny asked hopefully. It was still slightly nerve-wracking, this sort-of-dating thing - especially since she actually liked the guy and even having dinner together mattered, not what happened afterwards. Though God knows she was very interested in things that could happen after dinner. But still - being with Leonard was about more than just that. "If you want to?"

"S-sure, that sounds great." Leonard nodded quickly, gulping. Wow, she _really _wanted to go out with him. That first date hadn't been a joke. She hadn't even hinted that she wanted to be introduced to some actor or the other.

"Awesome." Penny bit her lip. They were silent for a moment, just staring at each other. Just as Leonard cleared his throat awkwardly, something in Penny's mind snapped, yelling at her to _get the hell over yourself and kiss him! _- and that's exactly what she did. Spur-of-the-moment, she took a tiny step forward and pressed her lips to his, heart thumping so hard she was convinced he could feel it even through all the layers of clothing between her chest and his.

It took him a few seconds to really focus on what was happening, but when he did he raised his brows and mentally kicked himself for not responding to her kiss quicker. Panicking that she might pull away too soon, he put his hands on her waist and tilted his head slightly to deepen the kiss. Apparently that was the right move because she slid her hands up to his shoulders and slipped her tongue into his mouth. Now _that _he hadn't expected. If he'd known she was going to kiss him like this he wouldn't have had garlic bread with his lunch. Or at least had some gum afterwards. Still, she wasn't pulling away... the garlic bread hadn't been _that _garlic-y after all. More like cardboard. _Yeah, that's what you want to focus on right now: garlic bread_. Leonard quickly refocused his mind; he really had to learn not to overthink while kissing.

A buzzing in Penny's jacket pocket disturbed the moment, and she slowly pulled away before her mind registered the reason they had stopped. Clearing her throat, she grabbed her phone out and answered the call. Leonard stepped back, suddenly finding his jacket sleeves very interesting.

"Hey, Bernadette. No I'm still on campus... yes I know. Really? Okay, I'll be right out." Hanging up, Penny looked at Leonard. "Not everyone from Bernadette's project group turned up so they're leaving now... she said she'll drop me off at work. So... I should actually leave this time."

"Right, sure," Leonard chuckled. "I don't want to make you late."

Fuelled by their recent kiss and regaining her confidence, Penny bit her lip. "I wouldn't mind if you were the reason I was late to work."

* * *

><p>"So... <em>someone <em>missed lunch." Bernadette smirked smugly as Penny got into her car.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was in the lab." Penny said, fiddling around to get her seatbelt done while Bernadette got the car going.

"So are you purposefully avoiding me or were you genuinely getting stuff done in the lab? Because you still haven't told me all about what happened with you and Leonard last night."

"How do you know we went out last night?" Penny raised a brow. She hadn't told anybody that they'd gone on a date; the only person to her knowledge who knew was Sheldon.

"Through the nerd-vine of course. Sheldon lives with Leonard, so naturally when Howard asked Sheldon to expand on 'they kissed' he found out and then Howard told me."

"Ah, so I guess things are going well with Howard?"

"We're not talking about that right now, we're talking about you and Leonard."

"Okay, okay. We kissed. We went out last night and we kissed some more. It was a little awkward this morning in the car but that's mostly because Sheldon was there. I went to see him in his office just now and we kissed some more."

"That would explain why your face is all red."

"My face is red because I walked really fast to get to your car!" Penny lied.

"Yeah, yeah." Bernadette waved a hand at her. "So are you guys like... _dating _now?"

"I don't know. I guess so." Penny bit her lip. "I mean, we went on a date and tonight we're going out for dinner - that's something, right?"

Bernadette giggled. "After you spent so long trying to get him to notice you, it is _definitely _something."

"Shut up!" Penny folded her arms, but bit back a smile anyway. "I'm gonna say it's something. Like, the way he kissed me - that's _definitely _something." She said, mostly to reassure herself. "Admittedly, I _did _just kiss him first but the other times it was him that went first."

"Ooh, getting back into the swing of things are you? Finally just kissing the guy!"

"You are having _way _too much fun with this." Penny scowled.

"Hey, it took you like over a month to get this guy - this is the _best_." Bernadette grinned. "How did it even happen anyway? You came out of his apartment just grinning away."

"To be honest, I was kinda pissed off. So I told him that I liked him. And it was as easy as that."

"Wow, telling people you like them - who would have thought _that's _how easy this thing is?" Bernadette laughed.

"You don't have to be so sarcastic about it! _God_! He didn't tell me that he likes me either!"

"Yes, but he's shy and adorable. You're... you know, kinda slutty. Usually if you want a guy you go get him. Plus you _knew _he likes you; you really could have done this all so much quicker."

"I just don't want to rush things." Penny sighed, although she knew her friend was right - things could have been a bit faster if only one of them had made the move. "When did any of those other guys work out for me when I just went for it? I want this to work out. I don't want to scare him away, he's still so shy and nervous about this stuff. I mean, I _do _want things to move forward and it was getting _so _frustrating that nothing was happening... but a change in pace is nice."

"I wish Howard was like that. He took me down to my cab after the party and I thought I'd be nice and hug him goodbye and his hands were definitely on my ass for a few seconds. But it wasn't a full on grab, so I figured I'd ignore it. He said he'd call."

"Has he?"

"Nope."

"But I'm guessing you guys kinda worked things out about the whole-"

"Fact that he's a sexist pig? He's far from forgiven, but I have to give him some credit for not taking advantage of me after the party." Bernadette raised her brows. "Though I have to admit, it was kinda nice to have a guys hands on my ass again."

"That doesn't sound slutty at all."

"You're just jealous." Bernadette smirked.

"Oh, whatever." Penny scrunched up her face. They drove in silence for a while before Penny let out a loud groan. "Do you know how long it's been since I had sex? A _long _time. Would it _kill _Leonard to just like, grab my ass, or my boob, or just... something? _Anything_! Literally anything!"

Giggling, Bernadette shook her head. "There it is."

"I have a great ass! And I practically shoved my tongue down his throat! I don't want to rush things but _God_, at least put your hands on it Hofstadter." Penny folded her arms over her chest again.

"This is going to be so much fun."


End file.
